Feminism - Women and Memory Forum

AGAINST WOMAN SUFFRAGE 317
the influence of public opinion — an influence in which women
can share, though the final determination be not theirs.®^*
But the idea is, rather, that, even if public opinion have not
the power to rule, yet it ought to rule, or ought to be respected
by the rulers.^* This, to repeat, is now supposed to be
the democratic principle. Or it is said, for instance by Max
Eastman, that *' the democratic hypothesis " is for the officials of
government, not to sit back and think what ought to be done,
but to " go and ask " the people what their desires are — what
they want.^^ The wish of the people is now substituted for the
will of the people, as the guiding principle of democracy. And
as women can wish as well as men, their wishes, it is held, ought
likewise to be respected, and their expressions of their wishes
ought to be counted — in the vote. It is the new morality exr
tended to politics: wishes, right or wrong, must not be contravened.
But wishes are determined by opinions ; and so the
neo- (and pseudo-) democratic principle is, that the opinions
of the majority of the population (children alone excepted)
should prevail.
It is important to note that the substitute offered for force
63a Hence the absurdity of Blease's reply to the force argument: "Police are re-